Event Collaborations: Top Tips

Collaboration. It’s the buzz word of the year and becoming buzzier as we speak. Organisations, including those that run events are seeing the benefits of identifying common goals with another organisations (or individuals) and sharing their resources to get there. Basically, it’s a top idea, one that every event organiser needs to know about. So, with that in mind, meet Jessica Ruhfus, ‘a strategic collaborations guru’, match maker of like-minded brands, owner of her own startup, Collabosaurus and long time friend of CoEM. Over to you Jess…

Whether it’s a business seminar, workshop, fashion show or product launch, events offer incredibly targeted platforms for marketing a brand. If you’re in the business of events, strategic partnerships and marketing, collaborations are amazing for expanding your professional network, gaining exposure and achieving great events on a budget.

A strategic partnership is when two brands come together, exchange their assets and tap into each others’ audiences for mutual benefit. These days, more and more is being done to ‘barter’ assets such as social media following, catering products, photography or venues as a means to gain exposure; it’s essentially a way to achieve amazing, engaged marketing!

Here are my top 3 tips for event collaborations…

1. Collaborate with complimentary brands and change it up

Doing your research is so important for successful collaborations. Make sure the brands you’re looking to collaborate with are aligned with the image and impression you wish to convey, and compliment the purpose of the event (i.e partnering with a wedding vendor on a corporate seminar event isn’t aligned).

Pay particular attention to the audience of the event, as well as the social media demographics of the brand involved. Having a shared target market is an incredible asset, because both parties involved can tap into each others’ communities for seriously valuable exposure.

Also, why not explore different partnerships for each event? I find that a lot of events companies have their set contacts and don’t waver outside of that. Changing up your collaborations allows you to not only grow your network, but to gain exposure with new communities of people each time.

2. Get clear on your goals

Every event will have goals, just as your strategic partnership should focus on a desired outcome. This will determine who you partner with and how you exchange assets. Here are some examples to consider;

• Engagement – if you want to boost engagement at the event, consider partnering with a brand that can deliver on this. We’ve seen great event experiences from brands such as Woofy’s, Social Playground and our very own Posy Supply Co X Collabosaurus event.
• Exposure – if the aim of the game is to attract exposure, think about your partnership in terms of valuable cross promotion on social media, at the event, through emails, signage etc.
• Budget – often with events, budget is a major concern. If your goal is to achieve certain things such as goody bags, catering or a venue on a budget, collaborate to offer exposure and non monetary benefits in exchange for these things at a significantly cheaper rate.

3. Follow through and follow up

Oftentimes, a great strategic partnership will turn into a long term relationship! Make sure you follow through on agreements, and consistently follow up with collaborators to maintain your network and learn from each experience.

So, what are you waiting for? Get creative with some brand collaborations and watch your community grow.

Collabosaurus is an online match-making platform for brands to source valuable partnerships with other brands. If you want to tap into communities around Australia, and even internationally, Collabosaurus is a go-to tool that makes sourcing and negotiating strategic collaborations simple. It’s FREE to get started and view your matches at collabosaurus.com

At College of Event Management we offer a range of specialised online event courses. Contact us for more information about the right course to equip you with the knowledge and practical experience to work as an event professional.